


Ugh.

by lrceleste



Series: DA Kink Meme Fills [4]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Adoribull - Freeform, F/F, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-11
Updated: 2015-11-11
Packaged: 2018-05-01 01:34:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5187158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lrceleste/pseuds/lrceleste
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternative Title - The development of a love affair, as chronicled by Sera</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ugh.

**Author's Note:**

> For the kmeme prompt: At night, when the tavern is quiet, Sera can every scrape and murmur from Bull's room. When Dorian starts spending his nights there, it's mostly just a lot of rutting and they ignore her when she throws things at the ceiling and tells them to shut it. She doesn't even like bananas. But then things start to slowly change. It's not always sex she hears. Sometimes it's talking, a lot of tiptoeing around their feelings, or something disgustingly domestic. And then suddenly there's an old married couple living above Sera.
> 
> So heads up this is mostly Adoribull from Sera's point of view (though I'm not sure how great her voice is, I just kind of tried to drip it into my writing style...)
> 
> Hope you enjoy anyway!

Ugh. This one was loud.

Sometimes Sera could bear Bull bringing back a different bar wench or stable hand every week, but not the screamers. And this one, this one was definitely a screamer. A man by the sound of it, he’d started out silent, then something had changed and- and she did not want to think about Bull and some soldier banging their swords together. Maybe she could complain, get Bull moved, she liked her cupboard and wasn’t gonna get chucked out just because Bull couldn’t help from banging everything with a pulse.

One final high pitched moan from screamer and Sera hoped that was the end of it. The silence that filled the space felt strange, unnatural, like it had at the beginning, when she’d just heard the bed springs. But it was better than screamer. So she buckled down and even though sleep seemed just out of grasp, she tried to capture it before-…

Before the muffled pants stared up again. Round two?! Already?!

Whoever screamer was Bull was up for a helluva night. She’d probably be able to pick out the soldier tomorrow from the way they walked funny after- Ugh, no, bad image.

Thankfully, not long after screamers last frigging _cry_ , the door shut, and she figured it was all over. About pissing time too!

-

“You coming fussy-pants?”

Dorian looked up at her slowly from his seat in the little nook he’d claimed. “Coming where?”

“Wicked Grace.” Sera answered shortly, leaning against one of the many shelves. “You always come.”

Dorian smiled like he knew some secret joke. “Ah, of course, you head along; I’ll be there in a moment.”

“Nah, I’ll wait.” She stated, crossing her legs. It was only Bull, Varric and Cole at the table when she left and she didn’t want to have to deal with Varric’s smartness, _Cole_ , and Bull still shockingly happy after last night.

Dorian rose rather uneasily from his chair, and Sera debated for a moment reaching out to give him a hand. She knew how that’d go down. “You alright?”

“Yes, yes, perfectly fine, just… Just a pain in my leg, will probably be gone by tomorrow. Now, shall we go?”

Dorian tried his hardest to cover the slight limp he had as they walked to the Herald’s rest. Sera didn’t think anything of it, that or the grin he tried to hide. Kind of stupid of her, she realised much later. She’d missed a golden opportunity for too many jokes.

-

There was just over a week of relative silence. And then she heard the slam, and feet above her, more feet than Bull had that’s for sure. And then the shuffles quieted, then-

Oh frig no!

Screamer was going again. It wasn’t all that often Bull had someone round for a second time, he’d explained it once and she’d backed the shite out of that chat. But then there had been that shit-eating grin on his face the entire game of wicked grace, like he knew. But of all the frigging people in Skyhold, why screamer?!

With a groan she reached over to her boots, grabbing one and preparing to toss it at the ceiling, ‘oi’ hanging on her lips. Then words cut through the moans, a quiet but obvious, “Kaffas!”

Oh nug piss. She’d heard that before. It was only a couple of weeks ago in the elfy place with all the trees that she’d asked what it meant.

Dorian. The Bull was bedding _Dorian_. And it seemed magister prissy-breaches didn’t have trouble letting him. Sure there had been that shite about conquering, and Bull always flirted, but Dorian- but they…

Sera held the boot for a moment, debating whether to interrupt them, but then screamer- shite, _Dorian-_ let out the longest high pitched moan. She tossed the boot with all the force she could muster, shouting, “Keep it down would ya?! Some of us’re trying to sleep!”

Apparently it did the trick, there was quiet conversation, before she could hear the bed creaking but not screamer- _Dorian_ screaming like his life depended on it. A general improvement.

At least she wouldn’t have to worry about it again, Bull’s limit was usually two visits, if it was ever more they weren’t so close together. She could catch up on sleep. She’d need to be rested for the teasing she was going to inflict.

-

Vhen picked Bull to go to the Hissing Wastes with Vivienne and Varric, instead of the usual team, her and the two secret lovebirds. But Dorian didn’t seem to act any different when Bull left, just seemed mostly like someone had taken a giant shit in his tea, but he could be like that if you interrupted him in the middle of something. Must just be fucking. She didn’t even bother teasing, he was no fun when he already had a face like a smacked arse.

But then Bull returned, and the drinks were in full flow when Dorian excused himself, under the guise of an early night. Two minutes later Bull was leaving, a grin splitting his lips. Before he could leave Sera reached out and gripped his arm, holding him in place, even though she knew full well he could pick her up with that same arm and toss her a fair few feet. He’d offered to once, and no way was Sera up for that shite.

“Bull, could you and the Vint quieten down a bit?”

Bull’s eye scanned over the group at the table slowly, before he spoke, “Can you keep it a secret?”

“Pfft, have done so far, haven’t I? Why?”

“Good, thank you. Dorian’s not ready for it to be common knowledge.” He explained.

“You two a serious thing then?!”

Bull shrugged, before shaking Sera’s hand away and heading up the stairs to his room, where Dorian was probably already waiting. Ugh.

Sera ordered another drink, better to stay in the bustle of the bar for now, instead of lying in bed listening to them trying to impale each other with their poles. Like jousting! Oh shite she was going to use that.

Sera giggled to herself, gaining Varric’s attention. The dwarf lifted an eyebrow as he asked, “What tickled you?”

“Jousting.” She answered with no further explanation.

When she got the golden opening she was going to rib Dorian for this, for trying to stay secret even though his shrieking could be heard by half the hold on a quiet night.

After a few more drinks near everyone had left, and staying to drink alone didn’t seem much like fun. Surely they’d be done by now. Eh, who was she kidding, they’d be going to first light if they didn’t have to take time out.

Still she climbed the steps to her little haven, slamming the door to make sure they could hear it in the room above. But when the last remnants of noise in the Herald’s Rest were drowned out she couldn’t hear anything going on upstairs. When she listened carefully she could just make out quiet murmuring from above, not loud enough that she could tell what they were talking about, but enough that she could catch the tone.

It was soft, quiet, kind of sad. Or maybe she was just imagining that, but it didn’t sound much like any happy post-fucking chat she’d ever heard. Not that she was in the business of listening to two guys fucking, she tried to avoid it.

Then the ruffling started, Dorian grabbing his fancy clothes by the sound of it, and surely he hadn’t had enough time to put them all on before the door was shutting, not quite a slam, but not the sneaking of a secret lover.

Maybe it was more than fucking. Would be best not to mention it.

-

Dorian didn’t return for a while after that, and Sera started to worry, actually worried. Not in the Cassandra, fluffy kind of way. But she looked out for the right people. And sure the mage was touchy sometimes, and his being the ‘evil Tevinter’ didn’t exactly get him a lot of friends, but he wasn’t that. And Bull, he didn’t like to admit it but he needed someone, like he needed that band of his; Sera knew that shrug meant more. And no one came (in both senses, ugh) it was silent in the room above, except from the shuffling between the door and bed, no wenches, no stable-hands. Shite, there was something.

She was almost ready to intervene and force them together when she finally bumped into Dorian and he looked… she’ couldn’t actually think of a way to describe how pissing miserable he looked. Looks like they’ve broken up, but then she didn’t know if they were ever actually together

But Andraste’s heaving tits, when Dorian finally did return to the Bull’s bedroom, the day before the three of them were due to go to Crestwood, Sera _knew_ about it.

The quiet knock on Bull’s door was just after sun down, during the guard rotation Sera realised, the optimum time to strike, for both pranksters and horny Vints who’d been boring grumpy arses for closing in on a fortnight.

They talked quietly again, which was definitely preferable to the screaming, or avoiding each other. She shut her eyes, thankful that maybe they were going to sort this shite out and realise they weren’t just a quickie.

Then there was a rustle, and then- oh piss no- then Dorian was moaning low and getting louder, and- and maybe she wasn’t so lucky.

They were part way through what definitely sounded like their third round when the sex noises stopped suddenly. Too suddenly, and then it was all confusion and feet running across the floor, voices raised in panic so that she could pick out certain words, most of them curses, occasionally, ‘fire’ made its way into their sentences and Sera looked up at the roof with suspicion. Surely not real fire?!

Eventually the frantic confusion ended and they were breathing so heavily she could hear it. Bull muttered something and then they were both laughing.

They didn’t fuck again. But the door didn’t go, not until early morning, less than an hour before they were due to leave, when she heard feet pad down the stairs in the Herald’s rest, trying to sneak but failing completely. The guard rotation was about twenty minutes ago, he must have missed it.

-

Everything was normal in Crestwood, well as normal as you can frigging get with corpses climbing out of the lake, all magic-y and shite. Dorian complained about the rain, and they all teased him for it. They took out the corpses, discovered the mayor was a straight up dickbucket, captured a fort, everything was the same. And then Bull said, loud as anything, “So, Dorian, about last night…”

Sera was glad they’d stopped for a moment, otherwise it would have made her staring straight at the two real hard.

Dorian groaned, running a hand over his face, “Discretion isn’t your thing, is it?”

“Three times!” Bull announced cheerfully, and Sera wished she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. “Also, your silky underthings do you want them back, or did you leave them as a token? Or… wait, did you ‘forget’ them so you’d have a reason to come back? You sly dog!”

 “If you choose to leave your door open like a savage, I may or may not come.”

“Speak for yourself.” Bull muttered, and Sera retched, Ink laughing.

“So, you two?” Vhen asked, a finger waggling between them.

Dorian took a deep breath, pulling his pack over his shoulder, before answering, “Perhaps.”

It was evident from the way the Tevinter mage turned on his heel and headed forward that that was the end of the conversation concerning him. But as Vhen hurried to catch up the mage, some talk about magic, evidentially a distraction, Sera fell into line next to Bull.

“So, you and flaming, huh?” Bull snorted and Sera’s smile widened. “You haven’t had anyone but him over in a while.”

“You really want to talk about my sex life?” He asked with a sceptical eyebrow raised.

“No thanks.” She answered quickly. “But I know more about it than I want to. He’s the only one you’ve had over.”

“What’s your point?”

“I like him, he’s not bad, for a mage, and an evil Tevinter, and all that. He’s- He’s kind of good… So if you hurt him you won’t get a sex life, you get me?”

Bull chuckled quietly, despite the threat and answered, “Loud and clear. I haven’t been with anyone else because what Dorian needs is full attention, someone who won’t run away or keep him like a dirty secret. He’s never had that.”

“That why he ran off?”

Bull’s eye flicked towards her, before concentrating on the road once again. “How much can you hear from your room?”

“Enough… Too much.” She answered with a shiver, before jogging forward to stand beside the mage, laughing raucously. “So… Jousting.”

-

Things changed a bit after that. Dorian arrived at Bull’s room in secret, just like he used to, and then he screamed a bit. But then the door never went, not after and not in the morning. Bull’s snoring started up, quiet through the floorboards, but then it stopped abruptly and chatting began, quiet and soft, but not sad, definitely not with the occasional laughter that slipped in. And then snoring began, snoring that was definitely not Bull’s deep nasal groans, no this was heavy breaths with little snorts and getting louder with each breath until it matched the qunari’s in volume.

At breakfast Dorian looked slightly dishevelled, moustache quickly curled and hair still sticking every which way, even though it was evident he’d _tried_ to style it. He hadn’t returned to his room the night before, and Sera smiled at him across the table.

“You might want to get something for that snoring.” She suggested, mouth full of porridge.

Dorian looked down at her in disgust, before quickly turning his attention to Bull, glare plastered on his features. Bull raised his hands in defence, “Don’t look at me, I didn’t say anything!”

“Maker take both of you.” Dorian cursed into his own creamy slop.

Bull ‘winked’ at her before tentatively laying a hand on Dorian’s back. The Tevinter hesitated in his eating for a moment, but continued on without any more interruption. Even as Sera stuck out her tongue in mock disgust at the sugary display, Bull was beaming.

-

Dorian came back the next night. And the next. And then the one after that. Every day bar three over the next weeks. The screaming did lessen though, and Sera imagined it was now that Dorian was very aware he could be heard from a mile away, it was an arrangement she could agree to. Only a few more boots had to be launched at the roof, and she could usually sleep through the noises. On some nights she could only hear their quiet chatter, not a single scream. But on the final night before they were all due to head out to the Storm Coast, Sera heard the two laughing loudly, the rustling of clothes, and then the inevitable moans.

She reached over, gripping one of her boots, tossing it with all of her force at the ceiling. “Keep it down, it’s early start tomorrow.”

There was relative silence, but only for a moment. Then Dorian was moaning, swearing blindly, and even Bull was adding his own cacophony of grunts, his own additions usually too subtle to be heard over Dorian. Which was frankly saying something.

“Didn’t you hear?! Shut up!” She screamed at the roof.

The reply was an especially loud, “Oh yeah, you _do_ look good in rope! Work those hips big guy.”

“Oh Bull! Oh Maker harder!”

“You’re frigging disgusting both of you!” She shouted at the ceiling, the mechanics of their business was not something she ever wanted to imagine.

She could hear them both laugh between Dorian’s persistent but quieted moans.

Eventually it ended, and then the post-coital chatter started.

-

That was shite. Complete fucking shite. Stupid Qun crap.

Bull looked down at the campfire and didn’t say anything, not a word. Dorian sat beside him, and cautiously laid a comforting hand on the Bull’s knee. The Vint offered a smile and Bull returned it slowly.

When the sound of footsteps grew louder, Dorian’s hand twitched and Sera thought he might pull away, but then he held fast, even as the Chargers finally joined them. As the rest of the group were taking their seats Krem asked, “What happened up their chief?”

“Nothing I want to talk about right now.” He answered, and the way Krem nodded ensured that was the final word on the matter for then.

They set up camp before the sun set, and really nobody was in the mood for celebrating that night, so she followed Vhen to the designated inquisitor’s tent, the one they shared to give the lovebirds some space.

And through the flimsy fabric of the tents she could hear their quiet mumbling.

 

Everything was silent, even the muted chatter in the other tent had died down, and Vhen slept only inches away. It was too quiet. It was a few moments before she rocked the sleeping elf, whispering, “Hey, you up?”

Vhen groaned, rolling to face Sera. “I am now. What’s up?”

“You- You wanna chat or something?”

The glare Sera received could probably kill the right person. “Is it so important we have to do it right now?”

“I guess…” Sera answered, and Vhen’s face softened, she was glad their leader wasn’t the pompous kind of elfy elf, the kind Sera had been expecting when she’d first seen the tattoos that arched over her forehead. She was good, magic and all.

“What did you want to talk about?” When Sera shrugged, Vhen pondered a moment and then asked, “You ever fought a dragon?”

-

Turned out the dragon thing was the best idea Vhen had ever had. Sera wasn’t usually on the team, it was usually down to Bull, Cass and ‘Viv’ (Sera had started calling her that after she’d discovered how much it pissed her off) to handle dragons. But after detouring with the Chargers to Skyhold to restock supplies and put on warm clothes, the four of them headed for Emprise.

Bull and Inky were ahead, chatting about the best techniques and other dragon fights they’d had. Dorian hung back, looking for all the world like he had something he wanted to say.

“Spit it out flaming.”

“You know I could take offense to that.”

“You a fire mage ain’t ya, as well as your creepy corpse shite?”

“Pyromancer?”

“Gesundheit.” Dorian rolled his eyes. “Still haven’t answered my question though.”

He sighed, wrapping his hands together in an attempt to release the nervous energy. “You’re proficient at procuring things, right?”

“In common, yeah?”

“You’re good at stealing.”

“You know I could take offense to that.” She joked before answering. “Yeah, I guess so, what you looking for?”

“I need you take something without the Bull noticing. When we-“

“The Bull?! No can do.”

“What do you mean ‘no can do’?!”

“Can’t do it. Nope. Bull would catch me stealing for sure.”

“You don’t technically have to steal, you just need to grab an item whilst he’s otherwise occupied.”

“And what would this item be?”

“A dragon’s tooth.”

“What?!” Dorian shushed her quickly, Inky and Bull only turning for a moment before realising all was well. “Fuck Bull, what about the dragon I’m taking it from?!”

“Well, as for the first part I think everyone’s aware I already have.”

“Oh ha ha.” She cut in sarcastically.

“And the dragon will already be dead.”

“I’ve just got to pull a tooth from its giant slobbery maw.” She asked with distaste. “And what do you want one for anyway?!”

“It’s-… It’s a present.” He answered, and Sera didn’t know what kind of present it was, but she knew who it was for, and- and-… Ugh.

“I’ll get it.” She’d never seen Dorian smile like that, all open mouthed and grinning like a kid in a candy shop and it slipped out before she could stop, “You’re in love, aren’t you?”

This time Dorian’s shushing was so loud it drowned out the end of her sentence, like he was trying to hide it from himself too. “That’s- That’s a drastic statement to make.”

“Yeah but you’ve been fucking how long? Months?”

“I like the Bull, I enjoy his company.”

Sera waited, assuming there was more to the statement. “Is that it?!”

“That’s all I’ll say. The tooth is a pre-emptive measure.”

“Pfft, you’re balls deep in shits creek and your paddles been thrown in the box with the rope and gag.”

Dorian stuttered for a moment, his cheeks turning crimson, before he rounded on Sera. “How in the Maker’s name- No-… I’m perfectly fine.”

Sera simply grinned.

“You alright there big guy?” Bull called back and Sera didn’t think Dorian could grow any redder but somehow he managed it, his whole face so close to beetroot that she couldn’t hold back the cackle.

-

It was much, much later that she found out what the tooth was for, and she was never really told directly.

The nights were drawing in, but it was still fair weather, enough that she could keep the window open in her nook until the sun had set. It seemed Bull shared the idea, as she sat on one of her many cushions (she’d forgotten where she’d grabbed most of them) she could hear some of their conversation drifting down.

“I have something for you.” Dorian began, and Sera almost shut her window there, she didn’t want to know what he was giving. But Bull’s reply of “Oh?” seemed far from flirty.

“Yes, it’s something I’ve been meaning to give you for a long while. I just-… Here.” All she could here for a short while was silence and she had to wonder if his gift was a knife to the heart.

Then Bull spoke, “Kadan..?”

“Now don’t go getting soppy me, you know I can’t stand it.” But his voice was light, she could almost hear the smile that was no doubt splitting his lips

With her own smile she climbed from her seat and descended the steps to the Herald’s rest, Harding was sat in the corner with another dwarf she vaguely recognised and damn if she hadn’t always had a soft spot for Lace.

She fell into the chair beside them and their smiles suggested she hadn’t interrupted anything too important. “S’happening?”

Lace smiled, “I was just chatting with Dagna about dwarf stuff.”

“Dagna? The dwarf who works with all the magic and stuff?”

“That’s me.” She chuckled, “And you must be Sera, I’d recognise that light armour anywhere, I enchanted it myself.”

Sera was trying to think up a response to that, but she was saved by the sound of feet on the stairs, and sure enough, it was Skyhold’s second most loved couple (Josey and Vhen had stolen top spot by dripping their entire relationship in sugar and rainbows.)

She’d had her suspicions about the tooth, but she never imagined Dorian would wear it proudly over his robes, a chain hanging around his neck, an identical one on the Bull’s. The two were practically married. The way Dorian had found pride of place in Bull’s lap when they joined the Chargers only proved the point.

“I’m glad Dorian’s happy.” Dagna sighed, a small smile on her lips.

“You know him?” Sera asked.

“Of course, he helps me all of the time when I need a mages help. The inquisitor is always so busy, and Madame de Fer and Solas.” The dwarf shuddered, and Sera cackled, causing a smile. “Well, I wouldn’t want to interrupt them. The last time I did…” Dagna trailed off.

“Oh no don’t end there! How did you get Madame de Pomp?!”

Dagna smiled sheepishly. “I was working on a stealth grenade, but I realised that Madame de Fer knows an ability that makes her completely undetectable, like she’s not even on this plain of existence, and I really wanted to study it. I thought that maybe if I could replicate- Oh, I’m rambling. Anyway I asked if I could study it, to see if I could perhaps enchant an object with the same ability. Long story short, one of the grenades went off, and when Madame de Fer woke up the explosion had destroyed her best robes. She made me swear I’d never speak of it.”

When Sera’s laughter finally died down, Dagna’s giggles setting her off anew she turned to the dwarf with a grin. “You must have the best pranks.”

“I suppose I could have… Most of my explosions aren’t intentional, mostly nobody gets harmed.”

“But you could make them?”

“Oh, definitely!”

“I think we could have some fun.”

-

Everything seemed to go so quickly after that. One minute they were making their way through an elfy temple, the next they were back at Skyhold. They walked through a frigging mirror. And came out at Skyhold. Sera wasn’t a fan to say the least.

Then Corypheus was on them, and everything was going to shit. Fast. Dagna gave her an enchanted bow and a smile that was meaning a little more every time Sera saw it. Ink kissed Josey good bye, and told her they’d be back soon, and Sera hoped so. Then they were at the Temple of Sacred Ashes, or the ashes of the temple. And Bull was squeezing Dorian’s hand.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go, Corypheus threatening them all, everyone scared shitless. They were the good guys.

 

And then as quickly as the shitstorm had begun, it was ending. It was all over.

-

After the big bad was dealt with, a lot of people started to disappear, even though Sera decided to stick around. Dagna stayed, and saying Sera was glad was an understatement, the tiny squishy dwarf was growing on her. Bull stuck around with his Chargers, only leaving when there was a job to be done. Dorian stuck around too, even though he swore every other week he’d return to Tevinter, he stayed for a while, and it was clear to see why. Eventually he left too. And then Bull left with his Chargers to find better jobs.

Occasionally Sera left, a job for a friend of a friend, but there was always something in the undercroft that kept her coming back.

 

**Epilogue**

 

The Councils of whatsits brought them all back together, the whole gang, and Sera remembered the first time at the Winter Palace, the usual group. Josie had been livid when Vhen had first arrived with a Qunari, a city elf and a Tevinter, but things had worked out for them in the end.

Things had especially worked out for Sera and Widdle. Mushy fluffy stuff had never really appealed, but Dagna, she was- she was just that. And what else to do after a day of catching up and pranking nobles, than mess up a bed in a palace?

Sera pulled Dagna into the room, the dwarf still apprehensive, even though it was their room for the council.

“Let your hair down.” She instructed, freeing Dagna’s braid.

Widdle giggled as she climbed atop the bed, and pulled Sera closer. “Do you… Want to try something new I’ve been working on?”

“S’it magic?”

“No magic.” She promised with a mischievous grin.

Sera flashed a grin in return that was equally as devious before, pushing the dwarf down against the bed, a giggle escaping her. She pushed their lips together as Dagna rolled them so that she was leaning over Sera, _really_ skilled hands working off clothes like they were nothing.

Then a thud against the floor. They both stopped still for a moment, it was neither of them.

Then a voice came through the floor boards, barely able the shout between laughter, the unmistakeable sound of the Bull, “Hey, you kids keep it down.”

And then Dorian’s laughter was joining too. Both of them laughing.

“Just because you two are like an old married couple doesn’t mean everyone else. It’s your turn to listen to us _make as much noise as possible._ ” She shouted back at the floorboards

“Have as much fun as you want.” Bull shouted back, even though Sera could hear Dorian chastising, ‘don’t encourage them.’

She rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back to her Widdle. Dagna smiled, “So where were we?”

“I think we were about to get revenge on a couple of old men.” Sera laughed.


End file.
